“ Hello, I’m Nicholas Foxworth Crane.”

Kay stared at him, with his hand extended and slowly put out her hand to meet his.

” Kay Bennett.”

“ May I sit down?”

Kay shrugged her shoulders. “ Sure.”

Fox sat down across from Kay. “ So, what is a pretty girl like you doing alone crying?”

” Minding my own business.”

” Ouch. Smart mouth – I like that. Kay, you’re too pretty to be upset. What problems could you possibly have?”

Kay smiled at Fox. “ Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because I’m 18, pregnant and the father of my child barely talks to me.”

Fox nodded. “ I guess that would do it.”

Kay looked at him with wonder in her eyes. “ Are you always this pompous?”

” No. You’re getting the mild version.”

” How did I get so lucky?”

” Luck of the Irish?”

“ I’m not Irish.”

” Oh…..well, we’ve established that your life isn’t too hot. What are you going to do about it?”

“ I don’t know.”

” Bull.” Fox picked up the books and magazines Kay had on the table. “ I can see that you’re already planning. You’re a take charge kind of gal, Kay. I can tell. “

” You can?”

” Yep.”

” So, what do you think I should do, oh wise one?”

” I think you should come work for me.”

Kay’s mouth dropped wide open.
 
 

“ Wha….what did you just say?”

” I said that I love you, Eve.”

Eve just stared at Julian.

” Julian..”

” I know. You love your husband. You love your family and want to keep them.”

” I do.”

” And, I respect that. But, I’m being honest here. I love you, Eve. More than I did the first moment we met. I’m sorry I hurt you, and of all the things I wish I could take back, THAT tops the list.”

” Julian…”

” Eve. I want to be your friend. I want you to be happy. What makes you happy is keeping your family together. You have to forgive yourself about Simone and Whitney. Simone is an adult. She’ll get in touch with you if she gets in trouble. How do I know that? Because she’s the young woman you raised. She feels betrayed by Whitney, not you. “

” She thinks TC and I favored Whitney, which is probably true.”

” So what if you did. Doesn’t mean that you don’t love her. I’ll be blunt – I don’t care how much you favored Whitney over Simone, I KNOW it can’t come close to what Ivy did with regards to MY children as opposed to Ethan. I could smack myself for not questioning it. The obviousness of it. Maybe I could have found out sooner that Ethan wasn’t my son, and I could have tried to correct things with my other children. As it stands, I fucked up with them. I sometimes think I loved Ethan twice as much as my other children because I funneled all the love I couldn’t give to our son and heaped it on Ethan.”

” That makes sense.”

” A sad, twisted sense. So, when I lost Ethan, I lost all that love I had given. It was like losing two sons at once.”

“ Oh.”

” Yes. Eve, you have to have faith in all the love and devotion you’ve given Whitney and Simone. You did the work, now trust it.”

” But, she’s my baby, Julian.”

“ I know, but you have to let her lead her own life. The trick to knowing if you’ve been a good parent is once the kids are grown, do they come back to you? I think the answer for you will be yes. Me? I’ll be lucky if my kids come to my funeral.”

” Julian…”

” Just being honest. And, as your friend, I’ll put someone from Crane Security on Simone’s trail. I’m not going to tell you where she is, but I’ll make sure she’s safe.”

Eve hugged Julian. “ Thank you, Julian.”

“ No problem. So, see? Things don’t look as awful as you think.”

” Yes, they are, but you’re a dear to try and help me.”

” I wish I could do more.”

” You can.”

” What?”

” Make a deal with Theresa, Julian. Joint custody and GENEROUS child support. You play, you pay, Julian Crane.”

Julian looked over at little Ethan, who was playing happily with his toys. “ I owe him that, don’t I?”

” Yes, you do.”

” Thank you, Eve. See, this friend thing isn’t going badly at all.”

They both laugh.
 
 

“ What did you say?”, Kay asked.

” I said, you should come work for me.”

” WHY?!”

” Because I have an instinct about people, and I think we’d work well together. I think we have a similar world view.”

” I don’t know whether to take that as a compliment or insult.”

“ Compliment.”

” Um, Fox, not that I wouldn’t love a job, but come on!”

” Why? You’re young, which means you’ll have energy.”

” I’m pregnant, which means I’ll be losing energy daily.”

“ We have health benefits, so you wouldn’t have to worry.”

Kay looked at him, “ Tell me more.”

“ Well, Theresa’s been fired from Crane Industries. I’ve taken her place, and I need an assistant. Someone to do for me what I was doing for Theresa. It has benefits, best in the business world, plus once the baby’s born, Crane Industries even has a daycare center. My father and grandfather hate it, but was one of the demands last negotiation time. It’s top of the line.”

Kay thought about it. “ Well, I guess I could go to school part-time.”

” We offer tuition re-imbursement.”

” I would be showing everybody that I’m not looking for Miguel to take care of me.”

” Uh, yeah.”

” And, Miguel will watch me, the mother of his child, working long hours, while all he’s doing is mooning over Charity, and he’ll feel guilty!”

” Huh?”

” And, I’ll be sure to tell him how hard the pregnancy is, and could he help me, here and there. Using the guilt to help me and the baby.”

” Huh?”

” And, before long, he’ll be with me and the baby! He’ll dump Charity and be right where he belongs! We’ll be a happy family!”

By the end of this, Kay has got a big smile on her face, and Fox is sitting there, stunned.

Kay reaches out her hand,

” Fox Crane, you’ve got yourself an assistant! I’ll be there first thing tomorrow morning. I have to go get some business suits! Bye!”

Fox watched as Kay swooped all the material off of the table, paid for it, and was out the door before he could catch his breath. He couldn’t believe it. He had met another whirlwind like Theresa. He laughed out loud. He knew Kay would never be boring.